Chitosan/gelatin blends for biomedical applications

✍ Scribed by Ettore Pulieri; Valeria Chiono; Gianluca Ciardelli; Giovanni Vozzi; Arti Ahluwalia; Claudio Domenici; Federico Vozzi; Paolo Giusti

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 523 KB
• Volume: 86A
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1549-3296
• DOI: 10.1002/jbm.a.31492

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Blends between chitosan (CS) and gelatin (G) with various compositions (CS/G 0/100 20/80, 40/60, 60/40, 100/0 w/w) were produced as candidate materials for biomedical applications. Dehydro‐thermal crosslinking was adopted to promote the formation of amide and ester bonds between the macromolecules ((CS/G)‐t). The effect of composition and crosslinking on the physico‐chemical properties of the samples was evaluated by scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetry, contact angle measurements, dissolution and swelling tests. Mechanical properties of (CS/G)‐t samples were also determined through stress–strain and creep‐recovery tests. The elastic moduli of dry blend samples showed a positive deviation from the additive law of the in‐series model, because of interactions and/or chemical bonds between components. The comparison between the elastic moduli of wet samples and those of different human tissues showed that (CS/G)‐t substrates can be suitable for soft‐tissue reconstruction. (CS/G)‐t two‐dimensional scaffolds were fabricated by micro‐molding, based on the use of a polydimethylsiloxane mould to create patterns with micro‐scale resolution on cast films. Biocompatibility of (CS/G)‐t samples was studied by means of cell tests using NIH‐3T3 fibroblasts. Finally, the evaluation of the affinity of (CS/G)‐t samples towards neuroblastoma cells adhesion and proliferation was performed, showing promising results for the blend containing 80 wt % gelatin. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res, 2008